How to sell more, better and faster: It's what keeps
salespeople awake at night, no matter what they sell. And in an
economy that's still soft around the edges, selling well is
more important than it's ever been.

So how can you and your sales team excel in turning prospects
into long-term customers? Here are 17 how-to secrets and words of
wisdom from sales experts and entrepreneurs for mastering the
entire sales process.

How to make a cold call
A cold call is not a time to make a sale. It's [a time] to give
something. The first question is, "Is it OK if I share with
you what we do and why people use us? Then, we can decide whether
it makes sense to go further." Be as discerning of the
prospect as they are of you. No one's going to do business with
a beggar.--Bill Caskey, author of Same Game, New Rules: 23
Timeless Principles for Selling and Negotiating" and
founder of Caskey Achievement Strategies, a B2B sales training and
consulting firm in Indianapolis,

How to get past the gatekeeper
Voice mail is today's gatekeeper. The [most important] part of
an effective voice mail is establishing your credibility by
referencing a referral, your research or some newsworthy event in
their company. The secret is to not talk about your product or
service; focus on results. Talk like a businessperson, not a
salesperson.--Jill Konrath, founder of Selling to
Big Companies, a St. Paul, Minnesota, sales training
firm

How to write a sales letter
The secret to a successful sales letter is making it look just like
a typical business letter. You want to position yourself as a peer
who has a great idea and a helpful offer. In working with sales
consultants at IBM, we coach them to start where the last
conversation left off--something like, "After your comment to
me on the phone last month, I've been thinking about a way to
X." Your opening shot can't be a misfire.--Dianna
Booher, author of E-Writing: 21st Century Tools for Effective
Communication and CEO of Booher Consultants Inc., a Dallas/Fort
Worth-area communication training firm

How to generate repeat business
Our customers aren't customers; our customers are owners. That
sets a certain bar. If one of our owners is going to take a flight,
a sales vice president may be helping with the luggage and the
catering. We feel like if we get in front of our customers and we
hustle, at the end of the day, it will be translated into repeat
business.--Kenny Dichter, founder of New York City-based Marquis
Jet, an 80-employee global leader in private jet cards whose
Marquis Jet
Card Program has a 90 percent customer renewal rate

How to upsell your current clients
I asked a client if they were thinking about redoing their website.
They said, "No." I didn't tell them, but I was going
to work on something because I had a vision for it. I presented it
to them, and they loved it. I had a $10,000 sale for that website.
The biggest secret is just taking the time to think, "What
does my client need that he's not asking for?"--Paula
Yakubik, founder of MassMedia, a 7-year-old Las Vegas PR and advertising
firm with 18 employees and $3.5 million in annual sales

How to hire a good sales manager
Successfully hiring a strong sales manager is a balance between
science and art. All strong sales-manager candidates exhibit three
behavioral traits: a high energy level, tenacity and
competitiveness. The biggest mistake companies make is that they
try to find someone who will change the process because sales are
not at the desired level. The majority of the time, the process
isn't broken; what they didn't find was someone who has
sold in that process before. Finding a manager compatible with the
process is crucial.--Jim Kasper, author of Creating the #1
Sales Force: What It Takes to Transform Your Sales Culture

How to offer great customer service
The big secret is to passionately believe in your people. It's
easy to say and difficult to execute unless you're in a culture
that supports and encourages great customer service. Everyone's
going that extra mile. Behind every transaction is a personal
relationship.--Jack Mitchell, author of Hug Your Customers:
The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results
and CEO of Mitchells/Richards, a high-end Connecticut clothing
retailer with $70 million in annual sales

How to close a sale
At the end of a sales conversation, the customer knows everything
[he or she] needs to know to make a decision. The key is to ask the
customer to take action. Simply ask, "Why don't you give
it a try?" Don't sit there hoping that somehow, sometime,
somewhere, the customer will take action on his own. Like a
dentist's job is to pull the tooth, the sales-person's job
is to ask for the order at the end of the presentation.--Brian
Tracy, author of The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales
Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible and founder of
Brian Tracy
International, a Solana Beach, California, sales consulting
firm

How to sell when price is the determining factor
If you're selling something on price, you'd better start
learning how to declare Chapter 11, because you're on your way.
Look at what's going on with the airlines and department
stores. Everyone gets confused thinking it's all about price,
but it's about relevance. Get away from price, and get to
value.--Sergio Zyman, founder, chairman and CEO of the Zyman Group, an Atlanta
management consulting firm

Quick Presentations, Surpassing Quotas and More

How to meet a prospect in person
This is your big chance to make an impression. Don't have your
cell phone and your pager on, and don't have anything in your
notebook that doesn't have to do with that customer. Ask
follow-up questions, clarify that you understand what they're
saying, and give them feedback that you're listening. You
don't want an hour to go by where [the prospect] didn't
feel it was valuable spending time with you.--Seleste Lunsford,
co-author of Strategies That Win Sales: Best Practices of the
World's Leading Organizations

How to give a great sales presentation in five minutes or
less
Whether you have six minutes or 60 minutes to make a presentation,
always organize your content, adapt to the moment, and dialogue
with your audience. Reveal your core statement early and clearly,
and support it with no more than three main points. If pressed for
time, leave anecdotes and stories on the sidelines.--Bob Lipp,
president of Better Business Presentations, a Great Neck,
New York, firm that helps executives improve their presentation and
public speaking skills

How to surpass a sales quota
People sit back and relax when they've made their quota. But
that's when you really pour it on. At 5 o'clock, make 15
more calls. When you have a lot of business coming in and
you're doing well, that's the best time to make calls to
surpass your quota. Your actions are much more powerful when
you're doing well than when you're trying to get
started.--Barry Farber, Entrepreneur's "Sales
Success" columnist and president of Farber Training Systems, a
Livingston, New Jersey, sales management and motivational
company

How to schedule your week most effectively
Every weeknight I would complete my Day-Timer with contacts I
needed to make and proposals I needed to present the next day. I
always had a complete plan written down. Map out your sales calls
so you minimize drive time. Log all details about each appointment,
tracking all steps of the sale until it's closed. This prevents
redoing or forgetting scheduled items and will keep your day on
task.--Henry A. Penix, author of Unwrap Your Gift and a
former salesperson who ranked in the upper 2 percent of all
salespeople for The Pitney Bowes Corp.

How to create customer loyalty
The hardest thing is getting somebody to trust you. After you build
a relationship, the trust comes. Going the extra mile, being a good
communicator, letting them know if there are problems--that makes
people feel good. Be consistent. Do what you say you're going
to do. When I see a parent with one child bring a second child to
me, that's when I know I've created customer
loyalty.--Kara Vample Turner, president and CEO of 7-year-old
Primary Colors Daycare Center in Durham, North Carolina

How to relate better to your prospect
Ninety-five percent of what's sold in the world isn't an
end unto itself, it's a means to an end. Nobody wants to buy
computers; what they want is the ability to transfer information
more quickly and accurately so groups can work together better, so
they can put products out to market faster, so they can capture
more market share. What does the client want to achieve? When you
ask that question, it changes everything.--Bill Stinnett, author
of Think Like Your Customer and president of Sales
Excellence Inc., an Evergreen, Colorado, sales training and
consulting firm

How to follow up with a prospect
I learned the importance of follow-up early on. I probably lost
several projects because I was shy. [Now], we look for reasons to
call back. If we get a sense of what they want, we'll sketch
something, call them and try to get them back in. If you don't
care enough to [take the initative and] call, I can't imagine
people wanting you to build their dream home.--Lambert
Arceneaux, owner of Allegro Builders, an 8-year-old Houston home
builder with eight employees and projections of $12 million in
sales for 2005

How to reduce the sales cycle
There is little magic to this, but a lot of work. Reps are loath to
ask tough questions. [Does the prospect] have a committed budget?
What's the process for releasing funds, and who has final
authority to do so? What is the event driving this initiative? [If
you] want to reduce the sales cycle, target prospects better, and
qualify them rigorously.--Barry Trailer, partner with CSO Insights, a
Corte Madera, California, sales effectiveness research and
benchmarking firm

How to increase market share
To truly grow market share, a company must not only increase
overall revenues but must also increase new customer acquisition
rates and average deal sizes. The 2005 "Miller Heiman Sales
Effectiveness" study revealed that less than 5 percent of
companies accomplished this goal. The interesting thing about the
winning companies is commonality in the key strategies they
pursued. Most of their new product initiatives were aimed at
providing additional value to their current clients rather than
trying to create new markets. These top companies also had a much
more evolved process of sharing best practices; they understand the
benefit of quickly communicating and implementing successful
strategies. --Sam Reese, CEO of sales consulting and training
firm Miller Heiman in Reno, Nevada